Four Chinese construction firms, including two state-owned ones, have been blacklisted by the World Bank after its investigators said they discovered evidence of collusion for bank funding in the Philippines.

According to a World Bank report published on January 14, a total of seven firms were suspected of collusion in the bidding for World Bank-backed national road and infrastructure projects in the country.

Shortly after the announcement, Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered an investigation of the three Philippine businesses implicated in the World Bank report.

The blacklisting would make it impossible for the companies to bid on future World Bank projects for several years, the statement said. Two of the four Chinese firms were state-owned enterprises, and three had secured World Bank funding in the past on projects throughout Africa and Southeast Asia.

China Road and Bridge Corporation, which focuses on road, bridge, and real estate development, was one of the central-government owned firms involved. It had offices in 42 countries, half of them in Africa, where business has boomed in recent years thanks to both foreign aid and Chinese-government-backed loans for infrastructure development there.

The firm refused comment when contacted by the EO.

According to a World Bank website database of contractors, since 2002 China Road and Bridge had been involved in at least 8 World Bank-funded projects, totaling 283 million dollars, in places such as Uganda, Cameroon, Tanzania, Kenya, Vietnam, and China.

China State Construction Engineering Corporation, a major construction Chinese construction firm, was the second central-owned enterprise implicated.

China State said in a press release that it had sent detailed documentats oultying problems in the bidding process to the World Bank, but that it was not accepted.

Since 2001 it had secured 125 million dollars for World Bank sponsored projects in places such as China, Vietnam, Algeria, and three projects in the Philippines.

China Geo-Engineering Corporation worked on 10 World Bank projects mostly in Africa, worth over 37 million dollars total.

When contacted by phone a staff there told the EO they would be not be able to comment at this time.